Marshall for The Hill, “The GOP’s pyrrhic tax victory”

“Another such victory and we are lost,” King Pyrrhus of Epirus lamented after suffering staggering losses in defeating the Romans in 279 B.C. This bit of ancient history seems relevant now as President Trump and the Republicans celebrate a pyrrhic victory of their own on taxes.

In ramming through Congress a huge package of tax cuts the Trump Republicans finally racked up their first and only major legislative “win” of 2017. But at what a cost: the betrayal of their professed principles and political commitments, all to achieve a result likely to be fleeting because Republicans spurned every opportunity to anchor tax changes in solid, bipartisan support.

With this sorry excuse for a tax bill, Trump might as well be slapping working Americans in the face. Wall Street, on the other hand, should be purring contentedly since Republicans couldn’t even bring themselves to close the egregious “carried interest” loophole for hedge fund and private equity investors. There’s no way to reconcile Trump’s populist rhetoric with a bill that lavishes the lion’s share of its benefits on the rich and powerful.